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Day Trip To Jacksonville

Jetblue was having a sale (pro tip: check their website early Tuesday morning & late Friday night for deals), so we bought two airplane tickets ($155.92 total) for a day trip to Jacksonville.

Our flight left FLL at 7am & we arrived in Jacksonville Florida airport (JAX) around 8:20 with plenty of time for our day trip . Side note: I love flying Jetblue. Almost, to where I can say they are my favorite airline. Great service, free WiFi & inflight entertainment, all for low price, what’s not to love? The scale also tips in their favor since they fly out of FLL rather than MIA, and personally, as a South Floridian, I don’t enjoyloathe flying out of MIA.

JAX airport was BY far the cleanest airport we’ve ever been to. Also, the quietest. It was kind of eerie, walking through an empty terminal on a Saturday. The Fort Lauderdale airport at 6am was PACKED. When we landed in Jacksonville, the airport was EMPTY. Around 20 people in the whole airport, empty…very eerie. Nonetheless, they have a lovely airport, it’s quaint & well kept.

Jacksonville Zoo: We arrived at the zoo twenty minutes before they opened. When we arrived, people were standing outside the gate, in two lines. Unsure if the lines were for ticket sales, or entrance, we asked & found out they were entrance lines. We were directed towards the ticket kiosk, where we purchased two tickets ($36).

The gate opened promptly at 9, and were ushered in. The Zoo was amazing! One of the best Zoos I have been to. So much to see! I was a bit upset the Kangaroo was missing (medical treatment), other than that no complaints.

Uptown Kitchen & Bar: Nice little restaurant. I was shocked they were at half capacity on a Saturday at 1pm. We ordered the Tomato Soup ($4), Brisket Burger (Lunch Menu $14), and Chicken and Waffles (Brunch Menu $13). All were very good. Service was a bit slow, which was weird since they weren’t that busy. I think it is the pace of the city. We finished eating and our waiter, Ed, walked by our table 7 times before clearing and giving us the check. In Miami, as you place the last bite in your mouth, your plate is removed and check placed. They are working on turning over every table as quickly as possible!

We walked around Downtown and saw a) a gentleman getting arrested for drug paraphernalia; a woman taking prescription medication in front of a store; a women standing on a corner in what seemed to be a prostitution area. #nittygritty

MOCA Jacksonville: I completely forgot it was the first weekend of the month and the museum participated in BOA Museum on Us, which was great. I got in for free! (Mr had to pay the student discount price of $5 since he did not have his BOA card in his wallet). Great museum with nice exhibits.

My favorite was the Andy Warhol exhibit:

By this time, we were exhausted so we summoned an Uber to take us to the airport, where we people watched for 90 minutes before our flight.

Total Cost: $262

Flight: $156

Parking: $15 (FLL short term )

Transportation: $10 (We took Uber to the Zoo ($0), then from the Zoo to Downtown ($10) and then from Downtown back to the airport ($0))

Entertainment: $41

Food: $40

Overall it was a great day. Jacksonville is SMALL and slow. When Mr and I left the museum we headed to a nearby coffee shop, since the closest Starbucks was over 2 miles away, and they were closing…on Saturday….at 4pm…

Anywho, feels good to be back in South Florida.

Remind me of that when I am complaining about how congested this city is during my Monday commute.